CLaSIC 2008

Conference Theme: Media in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
4 - 7 December 2008 in Singapore

The conference, organized by the Centre for Language Studies (CLS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS), has come to a successful conclusion. CLaSIC 2008 brought together academics, researchers and professionals from Asia and beyond for a productive and rewarding exchange of insights, experiences, views and perspectives on current and future developments in foreign language teaching and learning. The conference served as a platform for participants to report on current research and practices in foreign language education and related disciplines. It also provided an avenue for the discussion and critical examination of new and innovative concepts and approaches expected to have an impact on future practices.

The CLaSIC 2008 Organising Committee would like to thank all participants and presenters for their tremendous support of the conference and for their contributions which made CLaSIC 2008 a success. Special thanks go to the keynote speakers (please see below) whose lectures on the latest in their respective fields of research greatly enriched the conference.
We hope to see you (again) at CLaSIC 2010!

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Amy TsuiUniversity of Hong Kong
Cornelius KublerWilliams College, USA
Erwin Tschirner University of Leipzig, Germany
Richard HarrisonKobe University, Japan

SUB-THEMES
Media Theories and Pedagogy
Typology of Educational Media
"Traditional" vs. "New" Media
Media in Curriculum and Materials Development
Managing Media in the Language Classroom
Electronic Media and Multimedia in Language Learning
The Internet and Computer-Mediated Communication in Language Learning
Mass Media as Language Learning Content
Media and Language Assessment
Media in Teacher Education
Role of Media in Second Language Acquisition
Language as a Medium of Communication and Instruction

PUBLICATIONS

All participants received a conference handbook with the abstracts of all presentations at the conference as well as the presenters' biodata and contact information. In addition, the proceedings of the conference were published in the form of a CD-ROM with 52 papers. Copies of the proceedings can be purchased at SGD20 each, excluding postage charges. 7% of GST is applicable for mail in Singapore only. All purchase enquiries should be directed to Ms Lee Pei Ying at clslpy@nus.edu.sg.

The Centre for Language Studies (CLS) will be publishing a book of selected papers from this conference. All papers submitted for our conference proceedings, which have been included on the CD-ROM, will be automatically considered for selection. If you have yet to submit your paper to us or would like to revise your paper, kindly send it to by 31 January 2009. Papers for the book will be selected by the editors of the book and a specially appointed Scientific Committee.

The editors will be Wai Meng Chan, Kwee Nyet Chin, Masanori Nagami, Titima Suthiwan and Philippe Martin-Lau. We are grateful that the following prominent scholars have accepted our invitation to sit on the Scientific Committee:

Prof Amy Tsui
Prof Anna Uhl Chamot
Prof Cornelius Kubler
Prof Erwin Tschirner
Prof Richard Harrison
Prof Tae Umino
Prof Thomas Robb
Dr Weiping Wu

So do remember to submit your paper to CLaSIC 2008 Editorial Committee at clasic2008@nus.edu.sg by 31 January 2009, if you have not done so yet.

ADDITIONAL PAPERS FOR PROCEEDINGS of CLaSIC 2008
Three papers are failed to be included in proceedings CD due to administrative errors. We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused and would appreciate if you could download the papers from the link below for complete proceedings.
- Richard J. Hodson: Media Humour in the Language Classroom
- Li Lin: An Action Research on the Classroom Teaching of English Public Speech
- Tan Teow Ghee & Lim Teck Heng: Efficacy of Multimedia Teaching Instruction in Elementary Mandarin Class

Second Conference Update

Dear CLaSIC 2008 Participants,

We are pleased to inform you that preparations for CLaSIC 2008 are progressing smoothly. Because of the limited seating capacity in the auditorium where the opening ceremony and keynote lectures will take place, registration will end with the 200th participant. We would like to thank all of you for your support of CLaSIC 2008.

In the following is the latest conference update with some essential information for our participants. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to send them to us at clasic2008@nus.edu.sg.

With warm regards,

Dr. Philippe Martin-Lau
Chairperson
CLaSIC 2008 Organising Committee


Conference Update 2 (November 2008)

1. Conference Programme

The detailed conference programme including the schedule of paper presentations in the parallel sessions is now available at the following URL: http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/con_prgrmm.htm. The Organising Committee reserves the right to make changes to the programme closer to the conference, if required. Participants are advised to visit the webpage above from time to time to keep themselves updated about the programme.


2. Conference Venue and Access Information

The conference will be held at the newly renovated Shaw Foundation Alumni House at NUS. The venue is located right at the campus of National University of Singapore. For more access information about the conference venue, please refer to the following website: https://www.alumni.nus.edu.sg/images/alumni/sfah_map.jpg and http://www.nus.edu.sg/campusmap/

The following is the address of the Shaw Foundation Alumni House for your information and reference.

Shaw Foundation Alumni House11 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119244Tel: (65) 6516 5775Fax: (65) 6777 2065



3. Conference Opening Ceremony

The official opening will be at 8:45 a.m. on 4 December 2008 in the Auditorium of the Shaw Foundation Alumni House. Registration of conference participants will commence at 7.45 a.m. at the reception area in front of the Auditorium. All participants are requested to be seated by 8.35 a.m.


4. Social Programme: Official Conference Dinner, and Excursion Trip

CLaSIC 2008 Organising Committee has planned an attractive social programme for the conference participants. The social activities include official conference dinner on Day 2 (5 December), and a half-day excursion trip on Day 4 (7 December). Fees for these activities are included in the registration fee and no extra charges will be required except for the dinners on Day 1 and Day 3. The excursion trip is scheduled in the morning through the afternoon on Day 4. Its itinerary includes Singapore Botanic Gardens and National Museum of Singapore . For further details on the excursion trip, please visit our website at http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/social_prgrmm.htm.

We would be grateful if you could let us know your dietary preference (e.g. vegetarian food, Halal food) for the official conference dinner and lunches, if you have not done so during on-line registration, as well as your intention to participate in the excursion by 17 November to facilitate our arrangements.

Participants will be requested upon registration on Day 1 (4 December) to sign up for the excursion trip scheduled for Day 4 (7 December).


5. Accompanying Persons who will NOT join the Academic Proceedings of the Conference

If you are planning to bring a person who will NOT participate in the academic proceedings of the conference but wishes to join the aforementioned social programme (i.e. official conference dinner, and excursion trip), we would appreciate it if you could let us know her/his full name by 17 November to facilitate our arrangements. The fee for such accompanying person is *SGD 120 (SGD 70 for dinner and SGD50 for excursion). Please settle the payment of the fee upon your registration on Day 1. Payments can only be made by cash.

* The fee for accompanying person will not applicable to co-presenters. A full registration fee of SGD 480 or SGD 420 (for early bird registration before 30 September 2008) will apply to the co-presenters, if they attend the conference. The payment of the full registration fee should be settled prior to the conference either by bank draft or a credit card (Visa or MaterCard only). On site payment cannot be accepted.

6. Hotel Accommodation

If you have already booked a guest room at our official conference hotel, the terms and conditions indicated on the e-booking website will apply to your room reservation. Among others, please note following policies of the hotel.

Check-in: Check-in is at 1400 hours. Early check-in before 1100 hours is subject to pre-booking one night before and room availability. Alternatively, guests can leave luggage with hotel concierge and check in at a later time.
Check-out: Check-out is at 1200 hours noon on the day of departure. Hotel agrees to extend complimentary late check-out till 1500 hours subject to room availability. Late check-out from 1500 hours to 1800 hours on the day of departure can be arranged at additional 50% of one night room charge. Additional one night room full charge will be levied for check-out after 1800 hours.

If you need an accommodation during the conference period and yet to reserve a hotel room, you can book a guest room at River View Hotel Singapore at the following URL: http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/accmmdtn.htm. Please note that the booking at the stated preferential room rates can only be made through the webpage above. In addition, you can enjoy the preferential room rates from 3 December 2008 to 8 December 2008 only.


7. Book of Selected Papers from CLaSIC 2006

We are pleased to announce the recent publication of the book of selected papers from CLaSIC 2006. The book, entitled "Processes and Process-Orientation in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning" and edited by Wai Meng Chan, Kwee Nyet Chin, Masanori Nagami and Titima Suthiwan, contains eighteen chapters. The theme of this book reflects the paradigm shift in foreign language education, and the papers included in the book provide vital insights into processes in curriculum planning, instructional design, teaching methodology, teacher education and professional development, language acquisition, language discourse, classroom instruction and interactions, the development of language skills and learning strategies, and language learning motivation. The book will be available for sale at a discounted introductory price at CLaSIC 2008. Alternatively, it can be purchased from the Centre for Language Studies through e-mail. Order form and more information about the book are available now at our temporary URL: http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls. It will continue to be available at our website: http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/index.htm under the Publications section after the temporary URL is removed.


8. Weather and Clothing

Singapore has a hot and humid climate throughout the year with a daily average temperature range of 24 degrees Celsius to 31 degrees Celsius. Light and summer clothing is best for everyday wear. Air-conditioning at the conference venue may however be strong and a sweater or light jacket might be appropriate indoors.

There is a high probability of rain in December. Participants are thus advised to pack an umbrella for the trip.

Looking for someone to share a room

A female collegue is looking for someone to share a room at the conference.
Below is her information. Please contact her at mercedes@hkucc.hku.hk.

"I would like to share a room with a female colleague. I prefer Superior Twin with breaksfast. My name is Mercedes Vazquez and I am 38 years old."

Full Paper Style Sheet

Authors' Information for CLaSIC 2008 Conference Proceedings

All presenters are requested to submit the manuscripts of their papers by 17 October 2008 for inclusion in the conference proceedings which will be published in the form of a CD-ROM (with ISBN). Manuscripts are requested in Microsoft Word Document or RTF format and should be sent as e-mail attachments to clasic2008@nus.edu.sg. Only the soft copies are required. As the production will require several weeks, manuscripts that reach us after this date can no longer be included in the proceedings. One copy of the proceedings will be distributed to each registered participant. Please format your manuscript according to the instructions in our style sheet. Your cooperation is much appreciated as this will help reduce production time and minimize possible formatting errors. Please also check your manuscript carefully for spelling and grammatical errors.

Authors are responsible for the linguistic and factual correctness of their own manuscripts. Due to the tight production schedule, the CLaSIC 2008 Organizing Committee will be unable to do extensive editing. If you have any enquiries with regard to the above or the style sheet, please send us a mail at clasic2008@nus.edu.sg.

Style Sheet for CLaSIC 2008 Proceedings
Document Format: Microsoft Word or RTF, For Microsoft Office 2007 users, please save the file in 2003 format.

File name: Please use main author’s full name (family name and given name) for the file name.

Paper Size: A4

Margins: Left and right 2.5 cm

Top and bottom: 3 cm

Length: No limitation. (It is advisable that the file size for the manuscript should not exceed 1MB.)

Font and Font Sizes: Times New Roman for all text. Main body 12 pt. Captions for tables and figures 11 pt. References 12 pt.

Line Spacing: Single (unless otherwise indicated)

The style sheet is also downloadable at our website :
http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/index.htm

First Conference Update

Dear Presenter/Participant,

We are pleased to inform you that preparations for CLaSIC 2008 are progressing smoothly and have just sent notifications of acceptance to presenters whose proposals have been selected. This mail contains a comprehensive update of important information for both presenters and non-presenting participants.

Please read the update in the following. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to send them to us at http://clasic2008@nus.edu.sg. We hope for your cooperation which will certainly help us to make CLaSIC 2008 a success and a pleasant experience for all.

Best wishes,

Dr. MARTIN-LAU, Philippe
Chairperson
CLaSIC 2008 Organising Committee


Conference Update 1 (July 2008)

1. Registration

We would like to request all paper/poster presenters to register for CLaSIC 2008 by 31 August 2008. The deadline is required to prepare a detailed conference programme (including the schedule of presentations) by October. Presenters who have not registered by the deadline stated above cannot be included in the programme. Please register for the conference by using our online system available at https://ap3.fas.nus.edu.sg/cgi-bin/cgi2/cls_conf/dialpay_frm_reg.pl if you have yet to do so. (Presenters please use CLaSIC 2008 Account Password sent from "clasic2008@nus.edu.sg" when you submitted your proposal.)

To take advantage of the discounted early bird registration fee of SGD 420, we would also like to advise non-presenting participants to register for the conference by 30 September 2008. Thereafter the fee will be SGD 480.

We would like to request that the payment reaches us within 2 weeks after the registration. If we do not receive or are unable to confirm your payment of the registration fee 2 weeks after your registration, we will send you a gentle reminder by e-mail. In addition, we regret that we are unable to accept on-site payment at the conference. Payment must be made prior to the conference by the stated payment modes.

We accept the following two modes of payment: VISA/Master card, or bank draft. The bank draft should be made out to the National University of Singapore with the name and the registration number on the reverse side and be mailed to the following address:

Centre for Language Studies
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore
AS4/02-05, 9 Arts Link
Singapore 117570


2. Accommodations

Accommodations have been arranged for international participants who wish to stay at the official conference hotel, River View Hotel, at preferential rates with free transportation provided from hotel to campus in the morning and back to hotel in the evening after the conference.


To make your reservation and enjoy the preferential rates, please download the hotel reservation form (PDF file) and fax the completed form to River View Hotel directly. Should you have queries, please approach Ms Shirley Wong at River View Hotel and quote "NUS, CLaSIC 2008".

Contact Information of River View Hotel:
382 Havelock Road
Singapore 169269
Tel : (65)6732 9922
Fax: (65)6732 1034
Email: river382@singnet.com.sg


Please click here to get Adobe Acrobat Reader to download the hotel reservation form.

3. Requirements for Entry into Singapore

All international participants are requested to check the following requirements for entry into Singapore.

• A passport with at least 6 months validity;
• Valid Singapore visa, if applicable;
• Sufficient funds to last for the intended period of stay in Singapore;
• Confirmed onward/return tickets (where applicable); and
• Entry facilities to their onward destinations, e.g. visas.

Should you need to apply for an entry visa to Singapore, please register for our conference first and then send us a request for a supporting document, if required, for the application. We would like to advise those who need an entry visa to go through the application procedures early, as it may take some time for your application to be processed and approved. For further details on the requirements for entry into Singapore, please refer to the following website of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore: http://www.ica.gov.sg/services_centre_overview.aspx?pageid=252&secid=165

4. Conference Programme

The detailed programme will be made available at the conference homepage http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/con_prgrmm.htm by around mid-October.

5. Conference Publications

There will be two publications in connection with CLaSIC 2008. The Centre for Language Studies intends to publish a book of selected papers from the conference. This book will be refereed by a specially appointed committee.

In addition to this, we will also be publishing the full proceedings of the conference as a CD-ROM (ISBN will be applied for). A CD-ROM has several advantages, e.g. a shorter production time, lower production costs, and greater portability. This will make it possible for us to produce and distribute the proceedings at no additional charge in time for the conference. Furthermore it will not be an additional load on your luggage.

We would like to request all presenters to send us the manuscripts of their papers by 17 October 2008 for inclusion in the CD-ROM proceedings. Further details of the manuscript submission are indicated in another email sent to presenters. The papers for the book of selected papers will be selected on the basis of the papers submitted for the CD-ROM proceedings.

6. Receipts

In general, all official receipts for payment received will be issued to participants at the conference in December. However, an e-mail confirmation will be sent to participants once payment has been processed. If you require the official receipt earlier, please send an e-mail request with your forwarding address to clasic2008@nus.edu.sg.
7. Information about Singapore

To facilitate our international participants’ travel to and stay in Singapore, we have compiled a list of useful websites. These links are available at our homepage http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/. Please click the links named ‘About Singapore’ and ‘Transportation’.

Upgrading of Proposal Submission System

Dear Sir/Madam,

We would like to inform you that the CLaSIC 2008 on-line proposal submission system will undergo upgrading from 9am, 16th May to 9am, 20th May. During the period, please kindly submit your proposal by completing our downloadable form and sending to our email account clasic2008@nus.edu.sg

With warm regards,

CLaSIC 2008
Organising Committee
Centre for Language Studies
National University of Singapore

Registration for CLaSIC 2008

Dear Sir/Madam,

Registration for CLaSIC 2008 will commence from 1 May 2008. Registration related information can be found at the following webpage: http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2008/registrtn.htm.

Launch of the online registration facility will be slightly delayed. In the meantime we would appreciate it if you could complete a downloadable registration form available at the webpage above and send it to the Organising Committee by email at clasic2008@nus.edu.sg or by FAX at (65) 6777 7736.

With warm regards,

CLaSIC2008 Organising Committee
Centre for Language Studies
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore

Temporary Closure of Conference System

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are sorry to let you know that due to system maintenance, the conference system will not be available this evening from 5pm to 12midnight.

We would appreciate it if you could submit your proposal from 1 April 10am onwards. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Kind regards,

CLaSIC 2008 Organising Committee
Centre for Language Studies
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore

Our Correspondence Email Address

Dear Sir/Madam,

We had previously sent you an email on the Third Centre for Language Studies International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Learning (CLaSIC 2008). In the email message, we advised you to direct your queries to clasic2008@nus.edu.sg. However, it has come to our attention that there were some technical problems with the email address. The problems have since been corrected.

We would appreciate it if you could re-send any emails to us at clasic2008@nus.edu.sg if they had bounced earlier. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience it might have caused you.

Kind regards,

CLaSIC 2008 Organising Committee
Centre for Language Studies
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore